Some places, especially Facebook, are rife with copy-paste paragraphs, “share if you agree” posts, and quizzes. It’s really the latter of these that’s sparked this post, and the post below – shared by the Dorset Police Cyber Crime Unit – highlights this troubling trend.
These quizzes may seem like harmless fun, but – and this is especially true if your profile and posts are set to public – you never know who, or what, is collecting and collating the data you post on social media.
Many people will have at least one friend who is constantly posting these kinds of things; perhaps wanting to connect with other people, out of curiosity of what others answers would be, or perhaps just out of boredom. However, the darker side of these kinds of posts is that it all the information you share is stored, seen by whoever you allow to see it, and can be used for marketing.
Sometimes, more insidious or criminal organisations can start these “share if you agree” or “share with your answers” kinds of posts using fake accounts, in order to harvest the information that you share with them by commenting on, liking or sharing a post. Even the most innocuous-seeming quizzes can be used to infer things about you and your preferences, such as those about your favourite musician or TV shows.
It might not seem important at first glance, but when you consider that people sometimes use their first vehicle, favourite animal, favourite colour, or the street they grew up on as passwords or answers to security questions, you can start to see why posting this kind of information might put your accounts at risk.
